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Founder Rick Sweitzer started the adventure travel company in 1983 before leading one of the first amateur dogsled expeditions to North Pole. Driven by his vision, the guides and instructors of The Northwest Passage lead travelers of all skill and fitness levels to some of the most dramatic terrain on the planet. Locally, the team leads outings around the Chicago area, ranging from stand-up paddleboarding classes on Lake Michigan to kayaking and camping trips in Door County, Wisconsin. As for the rest of the world, Northwest Passage sends it adventurers to conquer it locale by stunning locale during programs that include hiking across Europe, trekking to remote Polar regions, and dressing up like scientists to infiltrate Area 51.

Since opening its doors in 1998, Language Stars has introduced more than 30,000 children to foreign languages with small-group classes and full-immersion activities. Through a selective process, Language Stars recruits ambitious teachers from more than 20 countries who share a common goal of revolutionizing how and when American children learn foreign languages. Parents and Tots Classes are available for children between 1–3 years old, and Kids Only classes are available for children 3–5, 5–8 and 8–10 years old. Absorbent little minds soak up Spanish, Mandarin, French, German, or Arabic with the help of their FunImmersion approach, learning naturally through games, songs, activities and art projects to help kids finally understand their foreign-exchange imaginary friends.

LIGHT OPERA WORKS showcases first-rate musical theatre productions that draw on a variety of world traditions while employing razor-sharp artistry and skilled performers for a dazzling evening of professional theater. Composed by the creators of My Fair Lady and backed by a lush 24-piece orchestra, Brigadoon spins the yarn of a Scottish town that springs to life just once a year, and the ephemeral romance that develops between a young American and a foxy corseted lass named Fiona. Patrons can air-bagpipe along with classic showtunes, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" and "Waitin' for My Dearie," or roll up programs to offer impassioned backing vocals to the rousing ballad, "The Heather on the Hill." All performances take place in Cahn Auditorium, and today's deal is good for seats in section A, where showgoers will be close enough to tug on a conductor's kilt.

Mosaic Therapy, a non-profit organization, strives to help families in need through tutoring. Certified teachers (most of whom have their Masters degrees) focus on incorporating students' emotions as a part of the learning process. Tutors aim to increase confidence and create successful learners, while creating a platform for engaging students and providing interventions.
The staff understands that culture is a key factor in learning, and that's why they try to communicate with clients in their native language as opposed to nongeographic forms of communication like semaphore. They also work with adults, with therapy options and education courses specifically designed for couples, parents, and the entire family.

The beguiling motions of Irish step dance are just a hop, skip, and several tap-filled jumps away at the Chicago Academy of Irish Dance. Here, world-championship medalist and certified instructor Mallory Wendt introduces students to the Emerald Isle's traditional dance forms. Mallory can also guide more advanced students, too, drawing upon training she received from legends including Tim O’Hare, Mark Howard, and Glasgow's McLoughlin family.

Renovated in 2006, the nearly century-old Wilmette Theatre entertains theatergoers with a rotating slate of current and classic offerings, including Hollywood blockbusters and niche art films. Cylindrical light from a whirring projector flickers across two auditoriums, where movie-going duos can snack on buttery tubs of popcorn while sipping a soda and whispering spoilers into the facility’s pristine Soundfold curtain. The Wilmette underwent a key renovation in 2006, fortifying the century-old venue’s commitment to quality art with fresh coats of paint, an overhauled concessions center, and screenings of feature-length still lifes.

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Strolling through the store with Columbia College’s Virginia Heaven taught me why the trend cycle is accelerating and why guys aren’t afraid to wear purple anymore.
History museums don’t have a monopoly on history. Just look at the State Street Macy’s—originally the flagship location of Marshall Field’s, its building was completed way back in 1892. Today, the 3-acre department store is a National Historic Landmark.
The merchandise at Macy’s has an even richer past, especially if you ask Virginia Heaven. An associate professor of fashion design at Columbia College Chicago, Heaven specializes in fashion history. She co-curated the Chicago History Museum’s Ebony Fashion Fair exhibit, and she’s currently at work on an exhibit on student design (it’s called Enduring Style: Practice Makes Perfect, and it goes up at the Willis Tower on Monday, June 2).
I met up with Heaven at Macy’s, where we explored the store and talked about the evolution of the latest trends. She began by telling me a little bit about trends in general—namely, that the trend cycle has been accelerating. “Thirty years ago,” she said, “trends lasted maybe five to seven years.” Now, they might be around for no longer than a single season.
The quicker turnover is partially due to technology: consumers can browse Pinterest and shop online at such a fast pace that trends don’t feel fresh for long. “You could be in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet, looking at [clothes on your phone],” Heaven said. “There’s no pause for the digitally connected.”
Trends might flourish and wither much faster than they used to, but nothing truly dies. Heaven sees plenty of connections between what’s hot and what’s out of date. As we walked through the store, she explained the historical context behind three particular trends: one in bags, one in menswear, and one in plus-size fashion.
Along the way, we listened to many Macy’s Muzak classics, including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
Purses (Floor 1)
Trendy item: A Furla Candy Bauletto satchel ($248), which looks like a beautiful jelly bean with a handle and comes in six colors, including bright orange.
How we got here: According to Heaven, these Furla Candy bags are probably a glamorous throwback to jelly sandals. Remember jelly sandals?
Looking further back: before the 1920s, people didn’t always carry large, structured purses like this one. Those arrived on the scene when women entered the work force en masse and had to start carrying heftier things.
Before that, there were reticules—small, floppy pouches that typically featured drawstrings and rich embroidery. “In that bag, you’d have a handkerchief, a little bit of money, and perhaps a key,” Heaven said. (Wealthy people didn’t carry keys because their servants let them in.)
Menswear (Floor 2)
Trendy item: Tasso Elba button-down in Lupine ($29.98), a bright lavender dress shirt.
How we got here: Before the '60s, clothing was considered a long-term investment. People shopped more for quality than quantity, which meant smaller wardrobes and clothes in versatile neutrals, like brown and navy. Black wasn’t a neutral yet: “[It] still had, up until the 1980s, a connotation of mourning,” Heaven said. Colored clothes were a luxury reserved for people rich enough to splurge on a less-than-versatile item.
When the '60s hit, however, cheaper, youthful styles became explosively popular. Kids were tired of wearing brown and tan. They wanted to wear brights! Haute couture quickly co-opted their rebellion, and fashion took a colorful turn.
For men in particular, several niche fashions helped make color all the more acceptable. After the Industrial Revolution, most menswear was somber-colored—but not the zoot suit, which originated in 1930s Harlem and consisted of high-waisted, pegged pants paired with a long coat.
In the 21st century, athletic gear has also helped color make its way into the mainstream. Heaven noted that if men feel like they look good in bright yellow track jackets, they are more likely to try out a colorful dress shirt.
Plus Sizes (Floor 6)
Trendy item: Jessica Howard plus-size floral-print dress and jacket ($99). “A big print on a big person—they can carry it,” Heaven said. A smaller person might look overwhelmed.
How we got here: Large floral patterns date back to the 18th century, when they were popular among the upper classes. Check out this floral brocade dress from the 1730s for a sense of what they looked like and how much the elites liked to show off their backs (a lot).
Back then, Heaven said, there was no such thing as “plus-size” clothes because clothing didn’t come in set sizes—it was custom made. Being larger, though, was something of a distinction. “It was an indication of wealth. … It simply meant you could eat well.”
In the '90s and early 2000s, the public outlook was markedly different. “Plus size” was a nascent clothing category, but obesity was stigmatized and plus-size pieces were often tucked away in dingy store basements.
Today, the average American is a size 14 (which is the smallest plus size), and the stigma has somewhat lifted, aided by plus-size style icons like Oprah Winfrey, Adele, and Emme. Smaller plus sizes can be found with regular clothing in most stores, and at Macy’s, there’s a wide variety of plus-size looks in a bright, welcoming section on the sixth floor.

Lindsay Mican Morgan, the keeper of the 68 Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, is deciding where she would live if a ray gun shrank her down to the rooms’ scale, where one inch represents one real-world foot.
“I want to go to the modern rooms … the London nighttime scene [above] is gorgeous. But I think in reality, I would most enjoy some of the kitchens. I love all the pots and pans.”
Mini kitchenwares made to scale, such as the ones in the 1752 Pennsylvania kitchen above, are just some of the gallery’s incredible, historically accurate details crafted by hand in the 1930s. To wit: one of the rooms boasts a gentleman’s secretary, complete with a drawer within a drawer and a key that really works. In others, viewers can just barely glimpse a side room through a doorway, but it’s fully furnished anyway. And tables throughout the rooms are scattered with in-progress checkers games or half-finished drinks.
Despite their lived-in feel, one element is purposely omitted from every room: residents. According to Mican, it helps viewers, especially young ones, imagine themselves inside. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Mican to see kids in the gallery planning adventures in each room, or picking out the bed they would most like to sleep in.
“I think the most charming thing is, sometimes I’ll hear [adults] talking about coming when they were a child,” says Mican. Mrs. James Ward Thorne, the dollhouse and miniatures enthusiast who commissioned the collection, gifted it to the museum in 1941. Since then, perusing the rooms that span specific eras and regions has become a cross-generational tradition for many.
Flashback: The Making of the Rooms
The Great Depression was a stroke of luck for basically no one, except Mrs. Thorne. For a woman of her stature, it made her project extremely affordable—even commissioning custom mini couches—and allowed her to build one of the largest miniature collections on record.
Her collection isn’t just large, though. It’s also accurate, thanks to Mrs. Thorne’s “a little outside the normal” passion for style and design, as well as her plentiful source material. When her tiny rooms were being built, World War I had just ended, and many of Europe’s struggling upper-class families were displaying their insular households to the public. Mrs. Thorne took to touring those homes and visiting American museums, where displays of period rooms were in vogue.
In Mrs. Thorne’s era, even Queen Mary was so fascinated by miniatures that the English people gifted her an elaborate dollhouse complete with working plumbing. “Whatever the Queen does, every society lady wants to be involved in [it],” Mican notes. So it’s not a surprise that soon after, Mrs. Thorne and her team of master craftsmen began work on these now-famous miniature rooms.
Flash Forward: Mrs. Thorne’s Miniatures Today
The rooms are now decades old, and Mican reports that maintaining them is a challenging task, sometimes requiring tiny needlepoint. Arguably, the hardest part of Mican’s job is honoring the exacting vision Mrs. Thorne laid out in her sketches, which covered everything from each room’s particular layout to its lighting. “She was very specific about the time of day, the time of year. There was supposed to be a very specific type of lighting,” she says, which included natural lighting.
Occasionally, hewing to Mrs. Thorne’s vision means that “romanticism trumps reality.” In the Pennsylvania kitchen above, for example, a gun complete with a powder horn is stored above the fireplace. “[It’s] a horrible idea, to have explosives over a fireplace,” Mican says, pointing to the small lapse from reality. But Mican doesn’t linger on it. In a collection that’s otherwise so perfect and intricate, the rogue powder horn is charming—and even humanizing.